Goldfield
Gold Rush Town (1902) And Esmeralda County Seat; Goldfield Historic District And The International Car Forest Of The Last Church · Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield is a small, half-living boomtown on US 95 in central Nevada, roughly halfway between Las Vegas and Reno and about 30 minutes south of Tonopah. Gold was found here in 1902, and within a few years it grew into what is often described as the largest city in Nevada, with population estimates for about 1906 to 1910 of 15,000 to 20,000 people, stock exchanges, saloons, a railway and a famous 1906 world title prize fight. The boom ended quickly, and a flood and a 1923 fire destroyed much of what was left. Today a few hundred people live among the survivors: the stone Esmeralda County Courthouse, still in use as the county seat; the closed four-storey Goldfield Hotel, said to be haunted; the high school ruin; an old fire station; and a historic saloon. On the edge of town, the International Car Forest of the Last Church, dozens of painted cars and buses stuck nose-first into the desert, has turned Goldfield into a road-trip stop. It is small and honest about it: an hour or two, not a destination in itself, and best paired with Tonopah, Beatty and the Rhyolite ghost town.
US Highway 95, Goldfield, Nevada, 89013, United States
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the town and the International Car Forest are open land with no hours and no gate, visible any time in daylight. The Esmeralda County Courthouse keeps weekday county office hours and closes at weekends and holidays. The Goldfield Hotel is closed. The saloon, any cafe, the fire station display and the gas station keep irregular, owner-set hours. The traps that ruin a stop are arriving after dark, when nothing is visible, expecting food or fuel to be open, visiting the courthouse at a weekend, and assuming a hotel tour will run. Confirm current times before relying on them.